Apple’s new M2 Mac mini is a good value for a desktop computer.
$500 gives students and educators access to Apple’s best consumer processor performance and a desktop operating system. That’s vastly more affordable than $1300 iMac even after you consider the cost of a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.
But it’s not 1995 anymore. Students use laptops, not desktops. Apple hasn’t had its M2 Mac mini moment with MacBooks, and I think the iPad is the reason.
As of today, the Mac desktop lineup with student pricing looks like this:
- M2 Mac mini $499
- 24″ M1 iMac $1249
- M1 Pro Mac Studio $1799
- Intel Mac Pro $5599
And the Mac laptop lineup with student pricing is:
- 13″ M1 MacBook Air $899
- 13″ M2 MacBook Air $1099
- 13″ M2 MacBook Pro $1199
- 14″ M2 Pro MacBook Pro $1849
- 16″ M2 Pro MacBook Pro $2299
A student who needs to get the Mac experience for the least amount of money has two choices: a $500 desktop or a $900 laptop.
The Mac mini at $500 is bargain pricing compared to the rest of the Mac lineup. Apple has nailed value desktop pricing, but comparable value laptop pricing doesn’t exist.
Instead, Apple believes the 10th-gen iPad and Magic Keyboard Folio serves this purpose. The least expensive version of it costs students $648.
Top comment by pika2000
That was the original intention. For majority of people's computing usage, the ipad is actually sufficient. Refer to Jobs’ original ipad announcement. The ipad is the embodiment of what Jobs wanted, a completely sealed computing appliance for mere mortals. The touch UI has been shown to be more accessible to new users than the classic desktop UI with mouse.
So the intended segmentation was ipad for majority of users, then more advance users can get a Mac. But thanks to the greed of the new Apple post Jobs, Apple inflated ipad prices with ipad Pro, and also wanted you to buy expensive keyboards with it.
$650 is a great education price for the laptop version of the $500 education Mac mini. Problem solved?
Ehh … I don’t think the iPad 10 is the answer. The iPad is the de facto tablet to buy, but it makes all kinds of compromises to be laptop-like.
Ergonomics, multitasking, desktop app compatibility … the list goes on and on for how the iPad 10 differs from the Mac mini as the value purchase for students.
The Mac mini is a desktop Mac. Plain and simple. The iPad is a great tablet and it can be made to look like a laptop, but you cannot say it’s a laptop Mac.
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